
IN FEAR AND TREMBLING, Søren Kierkegaard sets out a philosophical category that he calls "the interesting": "a category that especially today (just because we live... at a turning point in human affairs) has acquired great importance, for really it is the category of crisis." In this lies its paradox. An interesting life-like that of Socrates-is a life of inward pain and trouble. The crisis is psychological, for it impels the sufferer to reevaluate ideas other people take for granted. Its origins, however, lie in the world around us-if it did not change, there would be no need to change our ideas at all.
There's little doubt that climate change denotes a turning point in human affairs, albeit one that Kierkegaard could scarcely have envisaged. Generally speaking, our first reaction to a crisis is to talk about it. War is a useful analogy, for even the threat of war drowns out all other conversations. A whole forest of expert commentary has grown up around climate change-but as we move outside this thicket, it fades into indifference. Most people pass by it with the equivalent of a mental shrug. It unsettles them but fails to unsettle their ideas in that lies its paradox.
The basic mechanism of global warming was expounded by Svante Arrhenius in 1896. In 1957, Roger Revelle and Hans Suess showed that seawater was incapable of absorbing all the carbon dioxide generated by burning oil and coal-therefore "the increase of atmospheric CO₂ from this cause... may become significant in future decades if industrial fuel combustion continues to rise exponentially." Which it did, inevitably. The first measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide commenced from 1958. The conceptual and technical tools of the earth sciences were slower to develop: it is only with advanced computing techniques that climate modelling becomes possible.
Bu hikaye The Caravan dergisinin February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Caravan dergisinin February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap

"THIS EARLY KNOT"
REFLECTIONS ON AHMEDABAD AND A NEW MUSLIM VOICE

THE BALAKOT MISDIRECTION
How the Modi government drew political mileage out of a military failure

HEAVY LIES THE GRAIN
Punjab’s farmers struggle with the Green Revolution’s toxic legacy

Persecuting Faith
The troubling signs of violence against Christian Adivasis in Chhattisgarh / Religion

PLANNING DISASTER
How the UP government abandoned well laid norms for the Kumbh

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
The MG Windsor raises the bar for effortlessness. Just like a certain Agent 007, then!

The Bankruptcy of the Rahul Congress
To revel in the AAP's defeat is like taking pleasure over Modi's advent

Eroded Support
Why Dalits fell out with the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi election/Politics

Matching Steps
Matching Steps How a cross-border duo are reviving the Lahore gharana/Arts

Campus Insecurity
Jamia students detained and suspended as they allege administrative vindictiveness / Politics